


To the Stars

by Birbliophile



Series: The Mandalorian(s) [1]
Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Gen, Platonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:20:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28494510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Birbliophile/pseuds/Birbliophile
Summary: What if Cara was Din's adopted Mandalorian sister?
Relationships: Din Djarin & Cara Dune
Series: The Mandalorian(s) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2087244
Kudos: 14





	To the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nine year old Carasynthia Dune gets up early in the morning to tend to the nerfs on her grandmother's rural Alderaanian dairy farm, but at night she dreams of exploring space like the brave heroes of the bedtime stories her parents used to tell her. Little does she know that her life will take a dramatic turn very soon...

Cara stood up and wiped her sleeve across her brow, a few golden strands sticking to her forehead. She turned over the last few wads of fresh straw in Mumuu’s pen, made sure all the nerfs were comfortable, then went back outside. The sky was just now turning a mix of amber and blue, fluffy clouds drifting lazily above her head as purple shadows formed on them. Cara took a moment to smile at the sight, then turned to check on the garage. 

“How’s it coming along, Nanna?” she called out.

“Doesn’t look so good,” her grandmother replied from where the truck was parked, the hood propped up. Adenna Dune stood up straight, her sleeves pulled up to her elbows and her gloved hands covered with spots of grease. She sighed in frustration. “I might have to walk into town and find a proper mechanic.” 

“What? But that would take you a whole day!” Cara frowned. “And...can we afford a mechanic?”

Adenna pulled off her gloves, throwing them onto the workbench and sitting down on the stool next to it. She swung her almost fully gray braid over her shoulder. “Not much choice, love. Without the truck there’s no way we can get next week’s load to market, and you know we can’t afford to miss market day. 

Cara stared at her shoes. “Yeah. I know.” 

“I’ll start off for town early tomorrow morning. You’ll have to make the cheese on your own in the afternoon.”

Cara nodded. “Okay.”

Her grandmother looked as if she was about to say more, then turned back to the truck. “I’ll clean up in here while you get dinner ready, love.”

“Okay Nanna.” 

After dinner, Cara washed up and went to her room, sitting down at her windowsill and staring up at the summer sky. Night had fallen completely now, and she could see the lights of the faraway town blinking on the horizon, just as the stars started to show themselves above. 

Cara sighed, leaning on her elbows with her chin resting on her hands. What was it like to be a space explorer, she wondered. The stories her parents and nanna had told her about people who flew in ships and met beings of all shapes and sizes seemed almost ludicrous fantasy, were it not for the illustrated books and holos she had seen detailing such things. But fantasy or not, the idea of being up in the sky, of seeing other worlds, was beautiful. 

“Do you think,” she said, turning to the ragdoll sitting on her bed, “that there’s a planet where the soil itself is edible?” She picked up Captain Nenninger and situated her at the windowsill next to her. “Or maybe there’s a people whose language sounds exactly like birdsong. It would be amazing to see all that, wouldn’t it?” Captain Nenninger’s rag head bobbed down in agreement. Cara smiled and looked back out into the sky, now dark and sprinkled with glittering pinpricks of light. “Yeah.” She sighed again. 

The stars twinkled above her invitingly, as if calling her to them. Cara chose one of them, a particularly bright one, and closed her eyes. 

“I wish…” she murmured. “I wish that one day, I’ll be able to see the stars.” She opened her eyes. Her wishing star glittered as if to say it had heard her plea, and she smiled sadly. 

“Wishing is kind of for babies,” she said to Captain Nenninger, blatantly ignoring the fact that she was nine years old and still talked to her dolls. 

When she turned back to the window and grabbed the curtains to close them, she found herself hesitating. Her wishing star had somehow gotten...brighter?

Cara leaned a little ways out the window and squinted. Yep, the star was getting brighter all right. And bigger. She frowned, leaning out further than Nanna would have liked. 

“What in the world-”

Suddenly, the star became a streak of light, falling faster and faster downwards and getting brighter and brighter, closer and closer. Cara started to hear a whistling noise, growing louder and more thunderous by the millisecond. 

Though a rising sense of dread bubbled up in her throat, Cara was transfixed on the star, which was getting dangerously close to the edge of the pas-

BOOM!

Cara screamed as the star-now a flaming ball of  _ something _ dark and twisted looking, crashed into the field just beyond the fence, lighting up the area around spectacularly. She could feel a too-warm breeze on her face, and soon the smell of something burnt hit her. 

Cara dashed out of her room, stockinged feet thudding on the stairs. She heard Nanna’s bedroom door open behind her as she ran breathless through the house, threw open the door, and sped out into the night. 

“CARASYNTHIA! GET BACK HERE!”

Cara couldn’t turn back, driven by something wild and fiery in her heart. Somehow she absolutely  _ had _ to see what the flaming thing was, the star that she had wished on and suddenly fallen to Alderaan in a blaze of light. 

She was exhausted when she finally slowed down a safe distance away from the flames, leaning breathlessly on one of the fenceposts that marked the edges of the Dune family farm. 

She could see now that the star was a mangled mess of metal, twisted and dented but still very much in the shape of a ship, a gaping hole in the front showing an empty cockpit. The heat was almost too much to bear at this distance, but Cara’s eyes roved over the wreckage with fascination.

Suddenly, she heard something above her, and craning her neck upwards she saw a bright dot getting closer to the ground. After a moment, she could make out a large armored figure holding onto a smaller one, the flames of the jetpack going out slowly as they landed about fifty meters away from Cara. 

“Hey!” She called out to them, vaulting over the fence and waving her arms wildly. “Over here!” The two figures turned to look at her-or she thought they were looking. Their heads were covered with helmets, so she couldn’t really tell. The taller figure was dressed in dark green armor and seemed almost curious at seeing Cara, raising an arm and waving back as they started towards her. The smaller one seemed more hesitant, only following when their...parent? Beckoned them forward. 

As they came closer to Cara, she realized that perhaps this wasn’t the best course of action. Both looked to be carrying weapons, and the tall one was  _ very _ tall. She backed up nervously, wondering if perhaps she should just run for it, but the tall one did have a jetpack…

“Hello!”

She squeaked in surprise and pressed her back against the fence. They were perhaps fifteen feet away now, and the tall one was waving at her. They spoke Basic too, she realized. 

“Sorry to startle you!” the tall one called in a feminine voice. “Do you live here?” The short one hung a little ways behind them, peeking around the taller figure. 

Cara opened and closed her mouth mutely. 

“May I speak to your parents, little one?”

“Uh…”

“CARASYNTHIA LORELEI DUNE!”

Cara jumped at the sound of Nanna directly behind her, grabbing her arm so tight it hurt and throwing Cara behind her back, scowling at the armored people and brandishing the emergency blaster. The tall one raised her arms in a show of peace. “We don’t mean any harm!”

Nanna’s eyes narrowed, cocking the blaster threateningly. “Who are you?”

“My name is Ezora Vizsla,” the armored woman said. “My son and I were attacked by pirates on our way home. Please, if nothing else I would appreciate-”

“Son?” Adenna lowered her blaster slightly. The armored woman gently pushed the smaller figure out from behind her, who seemed to protest only slightly. His mother nudged him once more, and he bowed awkwardly to Adenna. 

“H-Hello,” he said, and he didn’t sound like he could be much older than Cara. Her eyes widened. A child her age?

Adenna relaxed and holstered her blaster. “Alright. Come with us.” she turned and started back towards the house. Cara and the two armored people stared at her. 

“Nanna?”

“Ma’am?”

Adenna didn’t look back as they started to awkwardly follow behind. “You two have had a really rough arrival. The barn isn’t ideal, but it’s better than being out in the open, and we have some leftover soup and bread from dinner to share.”

“Oh we couldn’t impose on you like that,” said Ezora Vizsla. “Just tell us where the nearest city is and we’ll find lodging there.”

Adenna stopped and turned to stare into Ezora’s visor. “You have a child. Allow me to do this for you, one mother to another.”

Ezora paused as if she might argue further, but shook her head. “You are far too generous, but I accept. May I ask your names though?”

“Adenna Dune.” She gestured to Cara. “This is my reckless young granddaughter Carasynthia.”

“Hi,” Cara said in a small voice. The little group started to make their way to the farmhouse. 

“Hello Carasynthia,” said Ezora in a warm, pleasant voice. “How old are you?”

“Nine,” said Cara. “And uh, I’d prefer Cara, if that’s okay.”

“Nine, huh?” Ezora sounded like she was smiling. “And of course, Cara.”

“Are you aliens?” she couldn’t help herself. 

“Carasynthia!”

Ezora laughed, a deep, warm sound that reminded Cara of someone long gone. Her son shifted on his feet nervously. 

“It’s alright, she can’t see our faces so of course she’d wonder.” Ezora turned back to Cara. “We’re both human under these helmets, cross my heart.” She faced her son. “Say, aren’t you going to introduce yourself to our kind rescuers?”

The helmeted boy fidgeted with the small blaster on his belt and looked up at his mother in a way that Cara could only describe as incredulous. 

“Manners, ad’ika.”

Cara heard a small sigh, and the boy turned to her and Nanna. “I’m...I’m Din.”

“Hi Din,” said Cara. He didn’t answer. She frowned.

“We should get back to the house before it gets too dark,” said Adenna. Ezora nodded, her dark green helmet bobbing up and down. They continued walking. 

“Where’d you come from?” asked Cara. 

“Carasynthia, don’t bother them anymore. They’re tired from the journey,” her grandmother scolded. 

“I don’t mind,” said Ezora. “She’s a curious girl, that’s good.”

“Too curious for her own good sometimes,” Adenna scoffed. 

Ezora laughed again. “I remember being like that as a child.” She turned to Cara. “Our home is far from here. We were taking a trip out to a planet near Alderaan, but some pirates spotted us and chased us here, shooting down our ship.”

“That’s really awful!” Cara gasped. “Why were they chasing you?”

“They wanted to steal from us,” Ezora said, “but I managed to shake them off. Not without some...complications though,” she added, glancing back at the wreckage. 

“You’ll have to check on it in the morning,” said Adenna as they arrived at the farmhouse. As they went inside, Cara stifled a giggle at seeing Ezora have to bend down to get through the doorway. Din stayed close to his mother, like a shadow. While Ezora gave a quick glance around, Din looked like he was staring at the windows and door as if assessing every possible way to escape. 

“It’s safe here,” Adenna said, spotting Din’s awkward posture. Din stiffened, then relaxed ever so slightly when Ezora put a hand on his shoulder. She said something to him in a language Cara had never heard before, soft and soothing. Din nodded curtly after a moment. 

“We’re inside, so you can take off your helmets now,” Cara said eagerly. She wondered what the face of a space explorer was. 

“I’m afraid we don’t take off our helmets in front of others, child,” said Ezora. 

“What?” Cara frowned. “Why not?”

“It’s just part of our way of life,” Ezora said gently. “ I’ll tell you about it tomorrow morning, okay? It’s late, and children your age need their sleep to grow.”

“Okay…”

“Different people have different ways of doing things Cara,” Adenna said sternly. “We should respect their practices. Now go fetch some extra blankets and set up the barn loft for our guests.”

“Yes Nanna,” Cara said meekly, skipping upstairs. As she pulled some old winter blankets out from under Adenna’s bed, she felt a presence behind her. Turning around, she saw Din standing just beyond the doorway, glossy dark visor betraying no hint of an expression. 

“Hiya,” she said after a truly horrible moment of pure silence. Din stepped back suddenly, as if unsure. 

“Uh,” he started, voice gruff and deeper than when he had spoken earlier. “Hi.”

“Can I help you with something?”

“She...Buir said I should help you.”

“Buir?”

“Oh. My...mother.”

“Ohhh, okay!” Cara stepped over the threshold to Din, dumping a couple of thick folded blankets into his arms. “Then here! I’ll grab a few more and then we can go to the barn.”

Din stood there silently as Cara picked up another load of blankets, following her silently down the stairs and out the door. They passed Ezora and Adenna making conversation in the kitchen, and though Cara was tempted to pause and listen, Din was right behind her and she would have felt weird doing so while he waited and stared at her back. 

As they walked to the barn, Cara tried to start some conversation.

“So how old are you?”

All she heard was the sound of their footsteps in the darkness. 

“I’m nine,” she offered. “So I can basically do anything myself now.”

She heard a scoff behind her. “Not really.” Aha, she got him!

“Oh yeah?” her voice lilted teasingly. “And what makes you the expert?”

“I’m older,” he said tersely. 

“How much older?”

“I don’t need to tell you that.” Oh he was irritated now. Cara giggled. 

They reached the barn, and Cara swung the door open with her foot, pulling on the light chain with her teeth. Bessa and Mumuu raised their heads sleepily from their stalls, but Lollie snored on. Din seemed startled. 

“What are those?”

“What, never seen a nerf before?” Cara laughed, making her way to the ladder up to the loft. Din shook his head. “What kind of planet is your home if it doesn’t have nerfs?”

“A better one,” Din said. “It doesn’t smell so bad. What are they for?”

Cara rolled her eyes as she hauled herself up onto the raised wooden platform. “We milk them, duh! We’re a dairy farm.” 

“Oh.” said Din. Cara peeked over the edge of the ladder and stared down at him. 

“What?” he asked. 

“Aren’t you coming up?”

“Oh. Right.” He passed his load of blankets to her and climbed up the ladder. As he stepped off however, his helmet bumped the roof of the barn with a dull but audible CLUNK. Din spluttered and stumbled backwards, and would have fallen off had Cara not reached out and grabbed his arm, quickly yanking him in. Din landed face first, sprawled out on the loft platform. 

“Oh stars, are you okay?”

Din mumbled something that sounded vaguely like something Nanna Adenna would disapprove of. 

“Hey, I asked if you were okay.”

“I’m fine,” Din said irritably, sitting up and adjusting his helmet. He paused for a second. “But, um, thank you.”

“Are you sure you can’t take off your helmet?” Cara frowned. “So you don’t bump into more things?”

“I can navigate just fine,” Din said curtly. “And I can’t take it off, that would be against the Creed.”

“What’s the creed?” Asked Cara, sweeping bits of hay over the edge of the platform. 

“No, the Creed,” Din insisted. “The Mandalorian code, the way of life. To break the Creed is to stop being a Mandalorian. I take it off, I can’t ever go home again.”

“Yikes. But...then how do you eat?”

“I take it off to eat,” he grumbled. “And to sleep. It’s just that I can’t show my face to anyone else.”

“Not even your Mama?” Cara frowned. 

“She’s an exception,” Din amended. “Family can see each others’ faces, but no one else.”

“I...guess that makes sense,” Cara mused as she started to spread out the blankets. “But what about when you were a baby?”

“Babies don’t wear helmets,” Din said, as if it was obvious. “You put on the helmet when you swear the Creed as an adult Mandalorian.”

Cara’s eyes widened and stared at him. “You’re an adult? No way!”

Din crossed his arms. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Cara shook her head. “There’s no way you’re that much older than me.”

“Don’t be so sure about that.”

Cara scowled. “Yeah? Well then how old are you? No evading the question this time!”

“Fourteen,” Din said tersely. “That’s five years older.”

“Five isn’t a lot,” Cara grumbled, even though that was over half her lifetime. 

Din made a sound that if one had been listening very carefully, might have been the tail end of a choked laugh. 

“Din? Cara?”

Their heads poked over the side to see a greed clad figure standing below them, holding a tray with a small covered pot and two bowls on it. “Ah, there you two are.”

Cara waved. “Hi Ms. Ezora!”

Ezora laughed. “Hello to you too.” She set the tray down on the ground. “Cara, your grandmother says for you to clean up and head straight to bed.”

“Awwwww,” Cara whined. “Can’t I stay here with you two for a little bit?”

“I’d love nothing more, but it’s her farm and because of our culture, Din and I have to eat alone,” Ezora said apologetically. “Besides, I’m sure you’re tired after all this excitement. We’ll see you in the morning, okay?”

“Aw, okay.” Cara slid down the ladder and walked over to the door. “Goodnight Ms. Ezora, goodnight Din.”

“Goodnight,” said Ezora. Din didn’t say anything as the barn door swung closed. 


End file.
